Cinderella

Cinderella

Regal Entertainments

St Helens Theatre Royal

April 5-21, 2025; 2hrs 30mins

Left to right Rachel Wood as the Fairy Godmother, Ben Keith as Prince Charming and Kimberley Hart-Simpson as Cinders in the Theatre Royal St Helens' Easter production of CInderella. All pics: David Munn

"Go big or go home" might be the general idea behind this Easter panto offering of Cinderella at St Helens Theatre Royal.

From a glittering carriage - complete with OTT giant cuddly toy ponies – that wouldn’t look out of place on Blackpool’s Golden Mile, to the dramatic pop video-like dance numbers, here’s a show that asks: are you not entertained? And the answer is a definite yes.

Regal Entertainments, which runs the independent, family-owned Theatre Royal, puts on regular school holiday pantos through the year, but there’s absolutely no sense with them of simply going through the numbers.

This is a pacy, sparkly, genuinely funny show, packed with familiar faces led by the Theatre Royal’s resident comic Lewis Devine: ‘I’m Buttons… this time’. It’s hard to imagine a panto here without Devine, so successfully has he made the panto comedian role his own. Certainly the young theatregoers in our party had talked for weeks about seeing him on stage again.

He is supported by a terrific ensemble cast, featuring Corrie’s Kimberly Hart-Simpson as a sassy Cinderella, Ben Keith as a very charming Prince and Conor Barrie, having fun as a foppish Dandini.

Rachel Wood gets to show off fantastic vocals as Fairy G, presiding over a beautiful transformation scene set to One Moment in Time complete with bubbles and snow cascading into the audience. She also has fun alongside Devine and others in a brilliantly anarchic version of Love Lifts Us Up Where We Belong.

Shania Pain and Richard Aucott gleefully ham it up as Ugly Sisters Ozempic and Mounjaro and make a terrifically terrible double act complete with witty frocks (the Aldi & Lidl bag-for-life dresses were a big hit).

A large company of senior (Dynmamix Performing Arts College) and juvenile (from the Nazene Danielle School of Performing Arts) dancers seems quite a luxury in an Easter panto, but they make a strong impact, both in a dramatic forest fox-hunting scene (set to Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill) and the Gaga-like ballroom number.

For anyone wanting a bit of fairytale magic this Easter, Cinderella is a cracking way to spend a couple of hours - and as ever, it's great value for money.

Here's what my 10-year-old niece Molly thought of it:

"I loved the panto so much because of all the costumes, singing and comedy. The costume changes were amazing, because they are so quick!

My little brother’s favourite character was Dandini, mine was Buttons, and I think he was my cousin’s favourite character too. And the dancers were all incredible.

Overall, Cinderella was a great panto and it’s five stars from me!

More info and tickets here